Oregon State Police - 01/21/16 3:26 PM

The FBI recognizes that many in the community have questions about why we are here and our role in helping to end the occupation of the wildlife refuge. We are here to work closely with Sheriff Ward and our local, state and federal partners to protect the safety and welfare of this community. This occupation has caused tremendous disruption and hardship for the people of Harney County, and our response has been deliberate and measured as we seek a peaceful resolution.

Accessed at http://www.flashalertbend.net/ on January 22, 2016.

Wanapum Dam repairs nearing completion

Repairs on a cracked Columbia River dam in the center of Washington state are wrapping up and the dam's reservoir is being refilled. Irrigators will have water.

Wanapum Dam reservoir on the Columbia River is returning to normal levels after being lowered for more than a year for $69 million in repairs to a crack in the dam.

The reservoir level was raised 17 feet in late November and early December. Raising the level another nine feet began March 16 and should be completed in seven to 14 days, said Chuck Allen, spokesman for Grant County Public Utility District, which operates the dam.

A 65-foot-long crack, 2 inches wide at its widest point, was discovered at the base of the dam February 27, 2014. The PUD lowered reservoir levels 26 to 30 feet while investigating and repairing the dam. The PUD determined the concrete dam’s inability to withstand five decades of water pressure due to a design miscalculation, causing the crack.

The 1,092-megawatt hydroelectric dam was opened in 1963 and cost $93.3 million to build.

The next reservoir upriver, behind the Rock Island Dam, also had to be lowered and orchardists had to extend irrigation intakes along both reservoirs to obtain water.

Wanapum Dam was stabilized by drilling 37 shafts 16 inches in diameter from the top of the dam down more than 185 feet into bedrock below. Tendons 200 to 250 feet long and 12 inches in diameter were fed into the shafts, grouted into bedrock at the bottom and stretched taunt with 2.5 million pounds of pressure, Allen said. Each tendon is made up of 61 steel cables. The tendons are inside watertight sheaths, allowing them to expand and contract, and are capped at the top.

Tendon installation was finished in early March and remaining work will be finished in June, Allen said. Recreation sites along the reservoir, closed for a year, will reopen this spring, he said.

At the peak, 120 people worked on the project, Allen said. Kuney-Goebel, of Spokane, was the contractor. Repairs, associated costs and partial loss of power generation were initially estimated at $61 million but now are estimated at $69 million, Allen said.

Two-thirds of the cost is borne by a new bond issue, he said. A previously scheduled rate increase averaging 2 percent across all rate classes went into effect Jan. 1 for the PUD’s 45,000-plus customers.

Northern Jet Stream

El Nino

http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/sst/contour/contour.small.gif

El Nino has set up along the west coast of Mexico. The sea surface temperature is approximately 80 degrees Fahrenheit at the border of California and the Sea of Cortez. At this high temperature much more water is being evaporated into the atmosphere as water vapor. This water vapor will be transported by the winds.

Climate Change -- Flooding

Navigation Channel Condition Status Report - 22 January 2016

LOCAL NOTICE TO MARINERS

Continuing until further notice maintenance work is being conducted at the Melvin Price L/D in the vicinity of Mile 200.8. Mariners should be alert for, and abide by, any special instructions issued by the lockmaster in conjunction with this closure. Contact the L/D at (636) 899-1543 or via VHF-FM Channel 14 for additional info.

CHANNEL CONDITION STATUS - L&D27

Beginning approximately August 22nd, the channel will be closed for nightly 12 hr closures to allow for dredging the entrance to the canal.

MILE 180.0 - BRIDGE MAINTENANCE

Eads Bridge; Due to a containment system, the vertical clearance in the right descending (Missouri) span has been reduced to 85.6 feet above zero on the St. Louis gage. Mariners are advised to transit the bridge with caution.

MILE 178.0 - MILE 177.0 - AIDS TO

A can buoy marking a turn between approximate Miles 178.0 and 177.0, has been reported missing. Mariners are urged to exercise caution in the area.

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/activity/alertsystem/index.php

Activity for the week of 13 January-19 January 2016
The Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is a cooperative project between the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program and the US Geological Survey's Volcano Hazards Program. Updated by 2300 UTC every Wednesday, notices of volcanic activity posted on these pages are preliminary and subject to change as events are studied in more detail. This is not a comprehensive list of all of Earth's volcanoes erupting during the week, but rather a summary of activity at volcanoes that meet criteria discussed in detail in the "Criteria and Disclaimers" section. Carefully reviewed, detailed reports on various volcanoes are published monthly in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network.

http://volcano.si.edu/reports_weekly.cfm

Solar Impacts

SOUTHERN CORONAL HOLE: High above the sun's south pole, a vast hole has opened in the sun's atmosphere. This is called a "coronal hole", and it is the deep blue-colored region in this image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:

Coronal holes are places in the sun's atmosphere where the magnetic field opens upand allows solar wind to escape. White arrows in the image above show where solar wind is flying away from the sun.

Solar wind flowing from this coronal hole is expected to reach Earth on Jan. 22-23, 2016, with a 30% chance of minor geomagnetic storms when the wind arrives. Auroras will probably appear around the Arctic Circle, although their visibility may be mitigated by the glare of the nearly full Moon.